


the last message received

by foxerica (ericaismeg)



Series: stiles/derek ficlets [25]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-17
Updated: 2017-04-17
Packaged: 2018-10-19 22:27:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10649334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ericaismeg/pseuds/foxerica
Summary: DEREK: I’m sorry, Stiles. I must go. Please know that saying goodbye to you was the hardest, so I didn’t. I didn’t know how to say those words, and I’m pretty sure I would’ve ended up staying. Leaving you…it’s too hard. You’ve come to mean so much to me. I didn’t even notice it at first. Take care of the pack, Stiles. They need you. Take care of yourself. I need you. Always, D.





	the last message received

♚♞♚♞♚ 

Stiles stares at his phone’s screen, a soft sigh escaping his lips. His friends - his pack, really - are sitting around the table chatting. He has no idea what they’re talking about, and to be frank, he doesn’t really care. Stiles hasn’t been able to focus on much since…

Well, since everything happened and Derek left.

“Hey,” Jackson says, elbowing Stiles. It jars his attention, and he looks up. Quietly, Jackson murmurs, “We’re going to go down to the Hale House tonight. Wanna join?”

“Why?” Stiles asks, confused. He feels a little disoriented, like he hadn’t been sitting here for the past thirty minutes. He tucks his phone back into his pocket.

Kira leans forward from the other side of Jackson. She explains, “We’ve decided that we’re going to renovate the Hale House. Make it all nice so that when Derek comes home–”

“He’s not coming home,” Stiles snaps, standing up. He pauses when he notices the entire pack staring at him, silent. Stiles’ eyes meet Scott’s briefly. Then he announces, “When are you people going to _get_  that? Derek Hale is _not_  coming home. Let it go.”

Stiles takes off before anyone has a chance to react or stop him. His heart pounds loud enough he can _hear_  it. His hands are shaking when he reaches his Jeep. Stiles barely manages to get the door open, and he slams it shut once he’s inside.

His breathing is shaky at best, and he leans forward to put his forehead on his steering wheel. God, his friends meant well. He knows they do. But they have to accept the harsh reality: _Derek Hale isn’t coming back._

Stiles has the proof in the last text message he received from Derek.

He doesn’t look at his phone. He doesn’t need to. He’s stared at it enough to have it memorized by now. Stiles starts his Jeep, leaning back, and then reversing. He’s getting out of here.

After everything they’ve been through, he hadn’t expected Derek to hang around. It’s not his style, and it’s definitely not healthy for him. He had made his goodbyes with everyone else in person. He’d given Erica the keys to his corvette, had left Isaac with some money, and had given Boyd a new place to live with his little sister, Alicia. Derek had even stopped by Allison’s place to tell her and her father, Chris, how sorry he was that he hadn’t agreed to peace faster. He’d given Scott a huge pep talk about how he’s going to make a great Alpha, and had even told Jackson that he’s proud of him.

Stiles turns on the radio, hitting buttons with more aggression than necessary. He doesn’t even care that _Nickelback_  plays through his stereo. He’s desperate to stop thinking of how Jackson had broke down crying when he was telling them the story of Derek promising him that he was proud of how far Jackson’s come. That he’s proud of Jackson for being there for Kira, and that he shouldn’t hide from his feelings for her either. Jackson deserves happiness too.

Doesn’t Stiles?

Kira had been the only one who had known that Derek was planning on taking off. She’d helped him pack up the last of his stuff when he stopped by to speak with Lydia. Lydia says that Derek had told her she needs to trust her instincts more, and that being a banshee will become easier with time. She’ll figure it out - she always does. Then he’d gone home to find Kira waiting in his living room with all of his bags.

She said she’d asked if he’d seen everyone. Derek had said yes. Kira helped him get everything into the rental car, given him a big hug and a kiss on the cheek, and then watched him drive away.

Watched him drive _away._  

Kira had let him go.

And he hadn’t said goodbye to Stiles. Except for that last fucking text message.

 

**DEREK:** _I’m sorry, Stiles. I must go. Please know that saying goodbye to you was the hardest, so I didn’t. I didn’t know how to say those words, and I’m pretty sure I would’ve ended up staying. Leaving you…it’s too hard. You’ve come to mean so much to me. I didn’t even notice it at first. Take care of the pack, Stiles. They need you. Take care of yourself. I need you. Always, D._

The hot tears run down Stiles’ cheek as he takes a sharp turn down Derek’s family’s driveway. He barely manages to turn the Jeep off when he gets in front of the Hale House.

Stiles curses before he gets out of the Jeep. He viciously wipes his eyes on his sweater’s sleeve, trying to dry them, as he walks up to the house. Stiles mutters, “Fuck you, Derek Hale. Fuck you. I have so many questions! So many!”

He doesn’t care that he feels a little crazy, a little unhinged. He stands in the front foyer, looking around at the burns from the fire that had shaped Derek’s life.

“How could you just _leave_  me, Derek? Leave me here. Tell me to take care of the pack - I can’t even take care of myself! And you need me? What the hell does that mean? If you needed me, you wouldn’t have fucking left!” Stiles shouts at the dead air around him. He glances up the stairs, and watches the dust in the light from the window at the top. This place is dead. He should’ve known that he wouldn’t get the answers he needs here.

“I hate you.”

Stiles storms up the stairs, not taking precaution that they might break. He stalks around, looking for… _something._  Anything. Instead, he realizes that when Derek was living here, he was living with the ashes of his family. The ashes of his childhood.

His anger turns into heartbreak when he steps into a room that must have been Derek’s. He had only had sisters, and this room was full-on stereotypical boy. Stiles hesitates stepping in, knowing that he’s already violated Derek’s privacy by coming inside the house anyway.

The pack wants to rebuild this house? They want to give Derek a new home to come back to, and the idea is so sweet. But Stiles can’t picture how Derek would react. He can’t imagine Derek’s face. He does know that Cora would cry. Her tough-as-nails ass would sob. She’d be grateful, touched.

Stiles walks over and picks up a small stuffed animal. It’s a brown teddy bear, and Stiles has to let out a small laugh of disbelief. It’s a little burnt, but miraculously, it’s mostly in tact. He hugs it to his chest and closes his eyes.

“Fuck, Derek. I miss you.”

“I’m sure he misses you too,” a familiar voice comes from the doorway. Stiles has long since been startled by sudden voices. He turns to see Kira standing there, giving him a sympathetic expression. “Stiles, I want you to know that we’re not trying to hurt you. We miss Derek too. We’re terrified he’s not coming back.”

Stiles doesn’t know what to say to that. Jackson appears beside her. He’s still a little freaked out by their weird and sudden friendship. “Stiles, we need a distraction. It’s been too quiet since Derek left.”

Jackson’s right. It _had_  been quiet since Derek left. Braeden had stuck around, and even she had become bored. Stiles know that she’s itching for something to happen. Anything to happen. A life of normalcy isn’t in the books for them. He glances down at the bear he holds. “Okay. Yeah. Okay.”

“Okay, as in you want to help us rebuild?” Kira asks.

“Yeah,” Stiles agrees. “It’s better than being a sitting duck. The whole pact agrees with this idea?”

“Liam, Mason, Tracy, and Hayden are all down too,” Jackson tells him. “Liam thinks it’ll look great on his college applications.”

Stiles scoffs. How could anyone think about college? He had been dreaming of a world where he could go to New York City for college. Maybe Derek would come and finish his four-year degree there too. They could live with Laura for a while. It’d be nice.

“C’mon, let’s go back and meet the others,” Kira suggests, her voice soft. She wraps an arm around Stiles’ waist. “You know that Derek cared for you deeply, right?”

“No. Other than his last message…”

“He did, Stiles. Near the end, before he left, you two were thick as thieves. You were always at his loft, or he was picking you up from school. Your friendship meant something to him. I don’t want you to doubt that,” Kira tries to reassure him.

“Yeah.”

 _Take care of the pack, Stiles. They need you._  Right. And they needed a project to work on so they could forget about the past. Stiles has to admit, for an idea, it’s not a bad one. He doesn’t say anything when Jackson gets into his Jeep. There used to be a time when he would’ve strangled him for even thinking he could touch his baby.

But he’s just so exhausted, that getting into Kira’s car seems like the best solution.

He stares out the window at the Hale House while Kira turns the car around. Then he watches it grow smaller in the side-view mirror, eventually disappearing behind some trees.

Stiles almost wishes he had glimpsed a sight of Derek. But he knows he doesn’t.

 

♚♞♚♞♚

 

**DEREK:** _I’m sorry, Stiles. I must go. Please know that saying goodbye to you was the hardest, so I didn’t. I didn’t know how to say those words, and I’m pretty sure I would’ve ended up staying. Leaving you…it’s too hard. You’ve come to mean so much to me. I didn’t even notice it at first. Take care of the pack, Stiles. They need you. Take care of yourself. I need you. Always, D._

**STILES:** _wtf dude? what the hell is this? just come over and we’ll watch some netflix, okay?_

**STILES:** _it’s been a few hours, and you’re really freaking me out here, hale. where are you going? when will you be back? what does this mean?_

**STILES:** _god you’re so dramatic. would you PLS pick up your phone dude??_

**STILES:** _okay it’s been like a day and you have yet to respond…dude, did you leave BH?_

**STILES:** _derek, this isn’t funny anymore. get your furry ass over here so we can talk like adults._

**STILES:** _derek…I’m confused. I don’t understand. why did you go? why didn’t you say goodbye to me? you said goodbye to everyone else and skipped me because it’s hard? what does that even mean??? you think you would’ve stayed? YOU BET YOUR ASS I WOULDN’T HAVE LET YOU GO ANYWHERE. we need you, derek._

**STILES:** _I need you, derek._

♚♞♚♞♚

**STILES:** _so you’ve been gone for nearly a year now. it’s weird, how I can’t stop texting you. I don’t even know if you still have this phone number anymore. I haven’t called it to check in ages. I just…it’s been a year, dude. please come home._

**STILES:** _also, kira and jackson are now officially dating. how weird is that._

**STILES:** _also!!! lydia and allison are together, I think. they’re not really talking about it. and malia and scott are kind of together. you left before you really got to know malia, but she’s pretty cool once you overlook all the coyote-tendencies. she brings out this different side of scott. it’s kind of weird, but I don’t mind it. he’s happy._

**STILES:** _also erica and boyd are doing really well. they’re living together - alicia moved in with tracy! - and boyd’s been hinting about proposing to erica. and isaac is great! he’s volunteering at this shelter that helps abused youth._

**STILES:** _yeah, so I guess that’s your update on p much everyone. the kidlets, liam, mason, and hayden are also doing well. they’ve come so far in their training with scott! you’d be proud._

**STILES:** _miss you, dickhead._

♚♞♚♞♚

 

**STILES:** _vampires are real, you asshole!!!!!!_

♚♞♚♞♚

**STILES:** _if you come home now, there’s a surprise waiting for you._

**STILES:** _please come home soon, derek._

♚♞♚♞♚

 

**STILES:** _I spoke with cora and laura yesterday. they told me the last time they heard from you, you were doing alright. laura thinks you’re ready to come back. cora thinks you need more time. I hope that laura is right._

**STILES:** _we need you._

♚♞♚♞♚

 

**STILES:** _I need you._

 

♚♞♚♞♚

“Hey doofus!” Allison greets when she steps into the house. She shivers, running her hands up and down her arms. “It sure is chilly out there. Why don’t you have a fire going?”

Stiles looks at the fireplace. He could’ve sworn that he had started a fire. Apparently not. He gets up from the couch. “Sorry, Ally. I’ll get one started now. How was your first day back to college?”

“It was good. I’m glad I”m over that stupid cold, that’s for sure. Is anyone else around?” Allison asks.

“I think Kira might be upstairs? Malia’s around here somewhere. She’s studying for her exams next week. And uh, Isaac was here a while ago? I don’t know if he’s still hanging around to be honest…” Stiles lets his words trail. He shrugs, and Allison walks over to him.

She wraps her arms around him, and he shivers because she’s so cold. “Is it a Bad Day?”

“Yeah,” he acknowledges. He puts his face into the nook of her neck and closes his eyes. Allison and Stiles had bonded over the past year or so. They lean on each other a lot more, especially after the Hale House restoration project had been completed. Beacon Hills was no longer a beacon, it seams. Things were quiet. Restful. They could actually lead normal lives, letting the trauma and horror go. “You?”

“Good Day,” Allison responds. She steps back to put her hand on Stiles’ cheek. He doesn’t shiver, even though her fingers are ice cold. “It’ll get better some day, Stiles. Why don’t you get a fire started and I’ll round up whoever is still hanging around?”

“Sounds good.”

When he leaves the Hale House to grab some firewood, the skin on the back of his neck pricks up. Stiles feels as if he’s being watched. He straightens, and turns around. No one’s there - that he can see, anyway.

Stiles isn’t scared. It takes a lot to scare him these days. He frowns at the backyard, before turning around and grabbing the wood. Stiles walks back to the door, nudging it open with his foot.

He pushes the door closed with his butt and that’s when he hears Malia scream from upstairs.

Stiles immediately springs into action. He tosses the wood onto the floor and runs towards the stairs. Only the figure standing at the bottom makes him come to a screeching halt.

“I smell you, you bastard!” Malia shouts from upstairs. Stiles can hear thunderous footsteps, but he barely registers the sound.

“Derek?”

He turns his head at the sound of his name, and smiles. “Stilinski, I missed your sarcastic ass.”

“I–get out!”

Derek is clearly not expecting this, but Stiles attempts to push him back towards the front door. Derek stumbles a bit, but doesn’t resist too much. “Stiles, Stiles, _I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”_

“Yeah, it’s a little too late for that, bud!” Stiles says, but then Derek’s back is against the front door. And he can’t move any further. So Stiles starts to crack. Derek’s here. After all this time. Stiles had promised himself he wouldn’t cry, but it’s impossible not to. He collapses against Derek, who catches him, and holds him close.

“Stiles, I–”

“Lord, I missed you.”

Stiles looks up at Derek. There’s something else he’d promised himself he would do if he ever saw Derek again. Stiles leans up on his tiptoes, his legs shaking so badly that he doesn’t think it’d be possible without Derek’s grip on him, and he hovers in front of Derek’s lips.

“I missed you too,” Derek whispers. Then he’s leaning forward and kissing Stiles. It’s almost enough to let go of the anger he has against Derek. But not quite.

“What you did is not fair,” Stiles says, when he manages the strength to step away. He finds himself falling into Malia’s grip. “It wasn’t fair to me. To any of us. I understand that you needed to get away. You needed to find happiness in your own right. But you left us. And we needed you. _I_  needed you.”

Allison jogs to the bottom step behind him. “Derek.”

“Ally A. Good to see you.”

“Oh my god,” Allison whispers. “Derek!”

She rushes forward, hugging him. Then Kira’s coming out of no where, hugging him. Isaac stands beside Stiles, wary and unsure. Stiles reaches out and grabs Isaac’s hand.

Isaac looks at him, alarmed. “Is this–”

“Yeah.” _This is happening right now._

“Fuck,” Isaac whispers. But then he’s letting go of Stiles and rushing forward. He’s practically whimpering when Derek hugs him again. The first time in almost two years.

Stiles doesn’t know what to do. He glances at Malia before he turns and leaves the foyer. He’s not ready for this right now.

 

**STILES TO PACK GROUP CHAT:** _derek’s back._

**SCOTT:** _wHAT? WHERE IS HE?_

**ERICA:** _WTF I AM GOING TO PUNCH HIM AND THEN KISS HIM AND THEN MAYBE PUNCH HIM AGAIN_

**BOYD:** _we both know you’re not going to do either of those things. but wow. we’re on our way over. how you holdin’ up, stiles?_

**JACKSON:** _of course it happens when lyds and I are away. we’re gonna head home ASAP! keep him there. I have some words for him!_

**LIAM:** _whoa, so I’ll finally get to meet him!_

**HAYDEN:** _huh. I’ll call paige. she might want to know._

**SCOTT:** _I’m coming over to the house._

**LYDIA:** _jack just told me…jfc. how did I not see this coming?_

**TRACY:** _you’re a banshee, not a physic._

**STILES TO HALE GROUP CHAT:** _he’s home._

**LAURA:** _what?!?!! okay, tell him to stay put! I’m going to see if I can catch a flight. think that jackson might lend me some money?_

**CORA:** _I’ve got you covered, laur. I have a bunch of points you can use…but wow, okay. how you doing?_

**STILES:** _I left????? idk why. I just didn’t wanna be there anymore_

**LAURA:** _it’s okay, stiles. everyone will understand. I’ll see you soon, hopefully. cora, give me a call?_

**CORA:** _will do. hang in there, stiles!_

♚♞♚♞♚

 

He doesn’t come back to the Hale House for two weeks. It might seem like a long period to some people, but Derek was gone for two years so it doesn’t seem that long for Stiles. He’s not sure what anything means. He’s been texting Derek’s cell phone on and off for two years. He has to scroll for a solid minute before he finds the last text message received.

 

**DEREK:** _I’m sorry, Stiles. I must go. Please know that saying goodbye to you was the hardest, so I didn’t. I didn’t know how to say those words, and I’m pretty sure I would’ve ended up staying. Leaving you…it’s too hard. You’ve come to mean so much to me. I didn’t even notice it at first. Take care of the pack, Stiles. They need you. Take care of yourself. I need you. Always, D._

 

What did any of it mean? If Derek had come to say goodbye, would they have shared that small kiss they did when he’d come home? What would’ve happened? Stiles will never know. He will never really understand why Derek left to begin with. Kira said that he needed to find happiness by himself, but that didn’t make any sense to Stiles. Shouldn’t the pack be his happy place?

Then again, it’s not as though any of them had had the easiest time since being in the pack. Too many near death experiences. Enough that Danny had gone to school in Canada to get away from it all - and he wasn’t even involved in most of the mess.

Stiles has mostly ignored all of his friends during these two weeks, but then Hayden shows up in his window. Stiles is confused, because he’s pretty sure she’s never been to his house before. But he opens the window and lets her in without a word.

Hayden looks around his room and scoffs. “Man, you really need to get a professional in here to clean this place up. It smells like a mix of a bad porno session and a binge on rotting pizza.”

“Hi Hayden.”

She looks at him, a pointed expression which means she’s now all business. He and Hayden had never been close by any means, and he doesn’t really regret that. She’s a pretty intense kid and he has enough intense women in his life. “Stiles, no one knows I’m here. I’d like to keep it that way.”

He wasn’t expecting that, and sits down on his bed, dumbfounded. “So why are you here?”

“Because the pack is hurting, Stiles. They need you around. I understand that Derek being back is a Big Deal for you, especially because I’ve watched you whine and pine for him for the past two years. But no one has really celebrated Derek being back, because they’re concerned about _your_  well-being. So Derek, this guy - who, by all accounts, has never felt like he was loved or cared for after the fire…he’s back, and he’s being forgotten. Your self-pity party has overshadowed his return. And it’s time you fixed that.”

“Hayden, you don’t know _anything_ , you don’t know–”

“I do know that I found him crying in the living room while looking at the photo album that Kira had made last year. I do know that when I asked him why he came back, he said, ‘ _Stiles. I came back for Stiles.’_  And I know that when I awkwardly offered to hug him, he tried to push all of those feelings back inside and pretend that nothing happened.” She puts her hands on her hips. “I know that he loves you, and he never meant to hurt you. It’s obvious by the way he falls into the background the second your name is mentioned while the pack tries to figure out how to help _you._  But _Derek_ has been on his own for _two years._  He needs us. He needs his family.”

Stiles’ lips part. “I–”

“So stop whining and get your ass back to the Hale House and see your favourite person,” Hayden snaps. “I’m tired of this dramatic bull shit. You both deserve to have your feelings acknowledged by the other. And right now, he thinks you hate him.”

“But I–”

“Don’t tell _me._  Tell Derek.”

He doesn’t know what to think, but he throws his arms around Hayden. Somehow, that’s exactly what he needed to hear. She gives him a big squeeze before turning around.

“Hop on, Stilinski.”

He feels a little strange, hopping on the back of Hayden since she’s so petite, and he’s so lanky. But Hayden doesn’t act like it hinders her ability to run fast at all. When they get in front of the Hale House, she stops and he drops his feet to the ground.

“Go get your man, Stiles.”

“Thanks, Hayden,” he says. He gives her shoulder a quick squeeze before he races into the house. She’s right. Derek’s hurting, he’s hurting, but isn’t that what they do best together?

Derek’s frozen at the kitchen table when Stiles bursts in. He’s staring at him, blankly, a spoonful of cereal almost at his lips. The kitchen goes quiet. Allison manages to grab Liam and Mason by their shirts and tug them into the hallway. Scott, Kira, and Isaac all look at each other before Isaac opens the door to the porch. Jackson gets up from the table with Boyd, and they make their way outside too.

“We really should talk.”

“We should,” Derek agrees, nodding.

“I’m still mad that you left without giving me a proper goodbye,” Stiles tells him as he steps into the kitchen a little more. Derek nods.

“Reasonably so.”

“And I’m _so_  angry at you for kissing me when you showed up again,” Stiles says.

“I’m really sorry–”

“Because I wanted to be the one who kissed you,” Stiles finishes. Derek drops his spoon back into the bowl. It’s not graceful, and some milk splatters on the table. Lydia would have his head if it stains the wood. “And I wanted to tell you all of the things that I have been keeping to myself for the last two years. I wanted to tell you that I understand why you left. I understand that you needed to get away. But you need to understand that I felt like you had to get way from _me._  I know that’s self-cent–”

“No,” Derek says, standing up now. “I never wanted to leave you. I told you. You were the hardest part about me leaving. I knew if I stayed, I wouldn’t have gone. And I needed to leave, Stiles. I needed to go so badly.”

“I know that.”

“I never meant to hurt you.”

“I know that too,” Stiles acknowledges with a nod. He brushes a tear away from his eye. “I guess I just wanted to be the reason you came back.”

“You are,” Derek whispers.

“I am?”

“You are. I had another dream about you. This time it was so vivid, so real. You were begging me to come home. And then I woke up to your text. You said you needed me. So it took me a while to get my affairs in order, because I couldn’t just leave certain people hanging - they had housed me; given me jobs. Once that was all dealt with, I got on a plane.” Derek reaches out tentatively. He puts his hand on Stiles’ cheek.

“You got the message?” Stiles asks.

“I got them all. I couldn’t bring myself to stop paying the bill because I hoped that you’d keep texting me. I left it on airplane mode a lot, and whenever I really missed you, missed the pack, and home…I’d turn it on and pray that you’d messaged me.” Derek swallows, as if he has a lump in his throat.

“Derek, I’m so glad you came home.”

“Me too.”

They rest their foreheads against one another’s. It wouldn’t be easy, but it’d come back. The familiar feeling they share. Stiles knows it, deep in his gut. They’re going to be just fine.

He lifts his head slightly to brush his lips against Derek’s. It’s such a light touch that it feels like the start to something really good.

♚♞♚♞♚


End file.
